2002 Ford Mondeo ST220 from UK and Ireland - Comments

I've just purchased an 54 st220 in silver, pick it up next week. Will be my 3rd mondeo, I'm ford through and through. I've not even test drove it, I've missed out on two in the last two weeks, and wasn't going to risk losing a third!

Read some comments about the brakes, can anyone give a clue as to a solution and approx cost? Roll on next weekend!

Today I bought a 53 plate ST220 from Peoples Ford in Edinburgh it is in a nice dark silver with red leather interior, I test drove it for 10 minutes with the salesman with me, wow it's amazing can't wait to see how it goes with no salesman next to me. I hopefully pick it up next weekend oh my insurance is under £400 for it can't complain, just worried about fuel costs, but should be fine!!

How can I get more bhp from the st220 I need more power help me.

MORE power?! They already have quite a bit more than the 223bhp that's claimed, numbers such as 235, 238, 242 are well documented!

And don't forget 235 bhp on a FWD car is equivalent to probably 250 in a RWD, or 270 in a 4WD, all because of different amounts of transmission loss.

I hear there is a chip upgrade that takes it to 255bhp. It's called something like Bluefin or Blueflame.

Had my 4 year old ST220 for 2 months now. Fantastic car, I've done 3000 miles already, about 70% motorway and 30% rural. Its averaged 32.2 MPG overall cruising around 75 to 80mph which is incredible for a V6.

Best bit is the noise it makes. I always relish a long journey in this car, its such a pleasure to drive.

You lot should try a Saab 9-5 Aero, they are something else Rush with hush. Keep dreaming of the power upgrades, as the Saab has that sort of power as standard, if like mine it has a maptun stage3+ all you will be looking at is the rear end of my car vanishing into the distance.

Maybe, but the Saab is ugly and unreliable with a history of gearbox and electrical problems. I had a Saab once before; never again. It was quick, but I prefer to drive the car instead of fixing it!

I moved to Dubai from the UK and bought an 06 ST220. It cost around 40% cheaper than back home but you don,t get as many extras (not to bothered).

I've had it for a year now and done 30,000kms and still feels as good as the day I picked it up.

It's serviced every 10k and costs about 200 quid a pop. Petrol is cheap (80p a gallon) so fuel consumption not a problem and insurance cost me 550 pounds so value for money is excellent.

It's a great car for the family but when I'm alone is when I have the most fun. It handles superb on twisty roads and cruises along the motorways with minimum effort.

I've had it up to 258km/h (160mph) with no mods to the engine so I can't understand why people want to chip theirs when that's fast enough.

The only negative comment is the brakes could be better, any advice??

Other than that I love this car and think we will have a long and happy future together.

Paul.

P.S. The badge snobs that pass comments are jealous because the ST220 is better than the car they drive.

Hello all-just bought a st220 and love it, it's a great all round car for the family loads of room in boot very seat hugging and cosseting when your in the cockpit. As for the performance it is very strong when moving if a tad heavy for a huge take off you would get in a escort cosworth say but then as the power increases you have a great torque curve which puts a smile on your face evey time!

I just traded in my BMW 330D for a performance blue ST220 - am I mad?

The 330D was remapped to 235bhp by chipped uk, and great on fuel. I also loved rear wheel drive.

Now the ST220 - fantastic sound, handling and comfort with all the toys - makes me smile when I drive it.

BMW's supposedly hold there value, something that me and two BMW owning mates have recently found is not true. ST220 will depreciate fast but I have paid about half of what an all singing and dancing German alternative would cost.

OK ST220 isn't great on petrol, but I didn't buy a 3.0 v6 for economy.

Overall I can't beleive how much better the ST is than the "bench mark" 3 series.

All BMW, Merc and Audi drivers - yes you have quality cars - but don't slate the ST till you drove one.

I've had my 2004 ST220 for around 4-5 weeks now, slaughtered an Audi A6 upto 100mph the other night.

Civic Type R boys don't want to play.

Need I say more?

Only downside is I'm at the petrol pump every other day, but the thrill of driving the ST is worth every penny.

"slaughtered an Audi A6 upto 100mph the other night"

I think you'll find you can pick on BMW 330i's as well, and leave them with egg on their face! Have you tried this yet?

The ST220 is a savage bully of a car that punches way above its bhp and mercilessly shafts the drivers of more expensive respectable "fast" cars!

A Civic Type R would beat an ST220 no problem. Just look at the 0-60 times and power to weight.

Hey can I de-chip my mondeo?

I mean to cancel this option of opening the valves on higher revings, to keep the car on its utmost performance.

If you are talking about the mk1/2 Mondeo V6's, then it can be done by removing the two small black plastic pipes off the upper inlet manifold.

However this is not advisible as I have tested this myself on a mk1 24v, which is vacuum operated, and it usually will not run but when it did, my god what a rocket! Probably 20ish mpg though as well, those valves stay closed for a reason!

The reason it makes it faster is because all valves are now jammed open, and therefore allow more fuel and air into the engine, allowing higher power outputs at much lower revs. This brings your acceleration time down to 60 and a 100.

If you can get it to run, it can get very quick 0-60 times at the expense of running reliably and with half decent fuel consumption.

I think I managed one reliable none stalling run of 6.4 seconds to 60!, but as I said before, unless there is some way of setting it up to run without those pipes, then I'm afraid you will need the standard setup.

Get an st200 or new st220, and get that extra performance reliably as standard.

Jeb.